Veggie Filled Chicken Cacciatore Recipes

CARLA'S VEGGIE-LOADED CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat; cook chicken in hot oil until browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken and accumulated juices to a bowl.
• Mix onions and mushrooms together in the same large Dutch oven; add sherry. Cook and stir until onions and mushrooms are soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Add zucchini, red bell peppers, yellow squash, garlic, rosemary, Italian seasoning, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Mix tomato sauce and chicken stock into vegetable mixture.
• Arrange chicken on top of vegetable mixture; pour in any accumulated juices left in the bowl. Season with salt and black pepper. Cover Dutch oven.
• Bake in the preheated oven until chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour 30 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

CHICKEN CACCIATORE WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND POTATOES

Steps:

• preheat oven to 400ºF. Set chicken pieces on a roasting pan. Brush with olive oil (about 2 tablespoons total) on both sides. Season both sides with salt (about 1 teaspoon total) and several grinds of pepper.
• Put peppers, onions and carrots in a large bowl. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Spread them out on a roasting pan. Cook vegetables on the upper shelf of the oven and chicken on the lower shelf. After 25 minutes, remove the chicken and let it cool. Move the vegetables to the lower shelf, toss them, and roast for an additional 15 minutes. When chicken is cool enough to handle, cut it into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
• Meanwhile (while everything is roasting) heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup kettle over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about 30 seconds, just until the garlic is fragrant. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms lose their water and start to brown. Add white wine and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or so. Stir in broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add potatoes, chicken, vegetables, and capers. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 35 minutes, until potatoes are tender and the sauce has thickened a bit. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

STUFFED CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Need Ziplock gallon freezer bag, toothpicks, large oven proof skillet and lid.
• Peal and crush garlic, dice, place into small bowl, salt and cover with olive oil.
• Start the pasta water.
• Place chicken breasts one at a time into a gallon Ziplock bag with a little water, use smooth head of meat mallet and pound chicken into rectangles about 1/8 in thick.
• With flattened chicken breasts arranged in a row, add dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, and Parmesan to each breast. Roll up each breast and use toothpicks to secure each roll.
• In a small covered bowl, microwave mushrooms for 1-1/2 minutes, pour off water.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil, add chicken rolls, add chardonnay, cook chicken rolls about 6 minutes per side. Remove chicken rolls.
• Add onion rings, crushed red pepper, and red pepper slices to skillet and cook until tender. Add canned tomatoes, mushrooms, merlot, and Italian seasoning and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add chicken rolls to skillet, cover, and place into oven for about 20 minutes.
• Cook pasta.
• Remove skillet from oven and remove toothpicks from chicken rolls.

STUFFED CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Butterfly chicken breasts (some stores will do this for you at the meat counter) and set aside. Butterflying is cutting the piece of meat in half but leaving the end portion uncut (making it look like an open book). You can pound the chicken between plastic to make it flatter if you need/want to. Check out Eat Simple Food's video showing you how to butterfly chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and set aside open faced.
• Bring a medium sized pan to medium high heat and add olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Add the chopped onions and cook ~ 3-4 minutes or until onions are translucent.
• Add minced garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
• Add spinach and cook an additional 2-3 minutes or until wilted.
• Spoon inside the butterflied chicken and lightly fold over. You will not need string or toothpicks to hold this together - just a gentle touch.
• Bring a medium sized pan to medium high heat and add olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Add the chopped onions and cook ~ 3-4 minutes or until onions are translucent.
• Add minced garlic and cook an additional 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
• Add the crushed tomatoes and seasoning.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered on low for ~ 20 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning, salt, and pepper as desired.
• Transfer the sauce to a large baking dish and place the chicken on top of the sauce.
• Top chicken with fresh Mozzarella slices.
• Bake for ~25-30 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165F and juices run clear. The sauce should be hot and bubbling. Turn the oven to broil for 2-3 minutes (watching carefully) if your cheese is not browning.
• Add spaghetti to boiling salted water and cook ~ 10-12 minutes or until desired doneness. Serve over spaghetti and garnish with basil. Happy Eating! Beckie

VEGGIE-FILLED CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Steps:

• Mix salt, pepper& flour together.
• Wash chicken (taking off excess skin& roll in flour mixture).
• Put a little onion& a bit of the garlic& a few whole basil leaves in 3/4 the oil, then brown chicken on all sides in the oil.
• Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels (May need to add more oil as you go along).
• Remove gristle from pan, leaving the oil; add the onion& half the garlic and stir until onion is just wilted, then add, zucchini& mushrooms- cook, stirring for a moment (not long, it will also be cooking in the oven).
• Place the browned chicken pieces into a large oven-proof casserole& pour the onion-veggie mixture over the chicken.
• In the same frying pan, add the rest (1/4 cup) of the oil& add the other half of the garlic, then add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, Italian spices, and wine.
• Simmer a few minutes.
• Pour over the chicken, cover and bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 minutes or until the chicken is done; then, uncover the chicken, top with chopped basil& parmesan and bake an additional 15-20 minutes to allow cheese to melt& sauce to thicken.
• Serve with white rice with a little of the sauce on top.
• Note: To reduce fat& calories, you can remove the skin from the chicken& omit the olive oil from the sauce.
• I prefer to remove the skin while eating- the basil& chesse form a kind of crust so you can still have that without the skin.
• Cooking with the skin on keeps the chicken moist.